Monday, December 23, 2002

BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER UPDATE

UPN has released three images from "Showtime," the new episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer scheduled to air on Tuesday, Jan. 7.

Here's how the network describes the episode:

"Buffy's training of the Potential Slayers takes on a greater urgency as they and the Scoobie gang race against time to try and defeat the Ubervamp, who guards the cave where Spike is being held captive.

"Meanwhile, Anya and Giles meet with an oracle-like creature who has unsettling information about Buffy's past and future."

IMAGE COMICS FOR MARCH

ANNA PAQUIN TALKS X-MEN SEQUEL

Anna Paquin, who returns as Rogue in the X-Men sequel, said she enjoyed the character's increased role in the team.

"I have a bit more action, some stunts, some fun stuff that I got to train and learn how to do and work with the stunt team," Paquin said during an appearance on NBC's Last Call with Carson Daly on Friday night.

"It's not so much just hanging around being the damsel in distress like last movie. It was a lot more active, which I enjoy."

Paquin, 20, said she worked on the movie for about six months "off and on" in Vancouver. She rented an apartment instead of staying at the local hotel where often film actors reside during shooting.

"I got to come back a few times," Paquin said. "I went to visit my mother for about three weeks in New Zealand for during one little down period. But for the most part, I was up in Vancouver."

Paquin said she is going back to Columbia University next semester, after about 18 months of acting work.

"Living on movie sets your whole life would make you really boring and a really strange person, if that was your only sort of outlook on life, because it's not really reality," Paquin said.

"Also, it's just really nice after having sort of everything done for you and having people be way to overly nice to you to just go back to school, where you have to study and you can't make excuses. It's just normal life. That's sort of what I spent most of time doing, anyway, in between films."

In addition to talking about X², Paquin was promoting her new movie, Spike Lee's 25th Hour.

In other X² news:

* The film's official site now has a wallpaper available of Ian McKellen as Magneto.

* Sources told The Continuum that the first action figures from the film will likely reach stores in March.

* Alan Cumming, who plays Nightcrawler, will be a guest on NBC's Late Night with Conan O'Brien on Friday.

ROCKET COMICS: HELL PREVIEW

Dark Horse Comics has provided The Continuum with another set of preview art from its upcoming Rocket Comics line.

Hell debuts in August. The book is written by Brian Augustyn, with art by Skottie Young.

According to Dark Horse, Hell features a young boy who ends up on a bizarre island inhabited by strange creatures and government experiments gone awry.

Hell will be one six new ongoing titles of the Rocket Comics title line, which launches in July.

According to Dark Horse, Rocket Comics will feature "high-energy adventure stories that focus on strong characters who exist in extreme situations, but who at their core are just like the people reading their stories."

Click on the thumbnails above, to the sides and below for larger and full conceptual images from the book, and look for more preview art from Rocket Comics on Tuesday here in The Continuum.

BRIEFLY

The new Hulk movie action figures feature a description of Bruce Banner on the back card.

Here's how the character is described:

"Bruce Banner endures a life without a past, yet filled with dreams. A genetic scientist, Bruce studies the effects of gamma radiation on damaged tissue. Unaware there is a monster inside of him, Bruce continually struggles with fits of anxiety, embarrassment and rage. One day during a freak lab accident, Bruce's inner beast is unleashed and he becomes the most powerful being on the face of the earth - The Hulk!"